The fact I don't see more pirate themed Mordred is likeeeee
IT FITS HIM IT FITS HIMMMM, see my vision pleasessssee
Haha, I dont know how to respond to that!
Mordred, being (sometimes) King Lot's son means he's partially Norse, so he and his bros can be pseudo-(proto-?)vikings, which is adjacent(?) to pirates, I guess?
That being said, I do recall a post of mine about the stereotypical pirate accent being based on West Country, so Morgause would have something like the funny pirate accent, at least.
Stolen from her crib as an infant, Sakura is raised as a warrior of Kumoga and taught that Konoha is her enemy. After a battle between clans, she’s found within inches of her life by the elite members of the Black Army and brought back to Konoha as a prisoner of war. Can she survive the winter among her enemies?
Born from Winter Ash is an AU fic with Viking themes written by The Blackbriar Sparrow and is available on Fanfiction.net
The Ballad of Shimura Danzo (taken from: Born from Winter Ash)
The Ballad of Shimura Danzo
Arc I
(Born from Fire)
No mercy.
It is the phrase that Shimura Danzo grounds into the malleable skulls of his burgeoning army of adolescents. Danzo walks tall with his hands clasped behind his back, squinting through the noonday sun as he watches the young boys in the training arena. He has a favorite. An indomitable youth with moonlit hair; a trait, no doubt, given to him by the gods. They have a habit of marking their favorites and Danzo has learned to recognize the signs.
The boy is naught but nine years old, and already he is fast and strong. He listens with eager ears and watches with careful eyes. His movements in the arena are meticulous, and he has yet to be defeated by an adversary. He is a tolerant warrior, and Danzo is most impressed with the youth. He watches him use the bamboo Shinai to knock his opponent off his feet. Obito lands on the ground, the air whooshing from his lungs as he stares up at Kakashi and holds his injured ankle. “Breathe, Obito,” Kakashi reminds him. “On your feet.” He offers his comrade a hand.
Danzo strikes Kakashi on the back of the wrist with the flat edge of his dagger. The crack is loud enough to draw attention from nearby sparrers. Kakashi inspects the smarting welt on his wrist. He looks up at Danzo with a frown on his face and anger flaring behind his lucid eyes.
“We do not help our enemies, Hatake Kakashi. Why are you offering this boy your hand?” Danzo slides his dagger back into his holster and looks at the boy expectantly.
“Obito is not the enemy, Hersir. He is my comrade.”
“And how will Obito become the best warrior he can be if you are always there to carry his weight? Obito relies on you too much. You only think you are helping him Kakashi, but you are indeed enabling him to be weak.” Danzo leans forward, leveling his gaze with Kakashi. “If Obito is to become strong, you must show him no mercy.”
Kakashi frowns at Danzo, and Danzo sees the wheels of thought turning in his mind. Danzo thinks he is getting through to the lad, but Kakashi believes in a different code and no amount of manipulation on Danzo’s part will cause Kakashi to change his mind.
“Finish him,” Danzo instructs.
Obito, lying on the ground with his elbows propped beneath him, looks up at Kakashi with parted lips.
“Hersir?”
“Make him fight for his spot, Kakashi. The Black Army does not tolerate weakness. Make Obito prove that he belongs here.”
Kakashi does not move. His hand tightens around the Shinai.
“I said,” Danzo repeats, “finish him.”
“He’s wounded–”
Before Kakashi can finish his sentence, Danzo lunges and reaches for the boy’s Shinai. He wrenches it from his hand, but Kakashi leaps when Danzo swings. He rolls to the ground, scooping up Obito’s abandoned weapon and uses it to parry off Danzo’s swift attacks. Kakashi is very small compared to the Hersir, but he is fast and strong for his age. He manages to block each of Danzo’s strikes, but Danzo leaves no room for Kakashi to present a countermove.
Danzo means to teach the boy a lesson. If he will not do as commanded, Danzo will break him until Kakashi’s will bends to his authority. He strikes the boy hard in the ribs, and Danzo is sure he hears them crack. Kakashi’s face pales, but he does not let go of his weapon. The boy plants his feet, leaving his right side wide open for the strike. Danzo sees the opening and he means to take it.
He would have taken it, that is to say, but the boy pivots and brings his Shinai down hard over the side of Danzo’s head, right above his ear. Danzo’s vision blackens at the edges and stars crackle and sputter like fireworks in his head. He feels the ground beneath his knees. Suddenly, Kakashi is the same height. The boy is looking at him with wild fury and Danzo knows he has struck a chord.
“No mercy,” Danzo pants, wavering on his knees.
Kakashi cries out and brings the Shinai across Danzo’s mouth. He manages to break a tooth and the taste of hot copper spills over Danzo’s tongue. He falls to the ground, laughing as he spits blood onto the dirt floor of the arena and smiles.
The Hokage sees everything from her window.
Arc II
(Born from Ash)
Malodorous smoke spans across the night sky and shouts and cries from the burning village are heard through the blackened trees. The white-masked man thrusts a small bundle into Danzo’s arms and he expects the thing to cry. Ash from the stable fire rains down through the gnarled bare branches of the surrounding trees, settling like freckles on the babe’s small, heart-shaped face.
Danzo looks at the girl; the crown of her head adorned with soft pink curls. He thinks her family named her adequately; for her hair is the exact color of Sakura blossoms. Oddly enough, the girl’s pink hair is not her most notable feature… She is gazing up at him with eyes so green Danzo is forced to think of the spring-time forest after a rainstorm. They are the eyes of a witch; so wide and so bright – undoubtably given in favor by some infernal siren goddess. The child’s birth was prophesized by the gods, after all, and Danzo seeks to use her gifts to exact his revenge on the accursed Black Army.
He thinks only of his success as he climbs into the saddle of his war horse, tucking the babe within his cloak as he rides out into the night with his men following close behind.
The baby never cries.
Arc III
(Forged by Iron Will)
Sakura is ten years old when Danzo begins training with her. He looks for signs that her powers will manifest, but he sees nothing. She is a good warrior. Smart and capable; a force in her own right. She is small and works hard to prove her worth in the training field. The boys don’t take it easy on her, but Sakura never yields and she does not complain. She shows determination in the face of adversity. Danzo cannot help but see the parallels between she and his former favorite prodigy. It is for that reason Danzo chooses to watch Sakura from a distance. He does not wish to be reminded of Kakashi. With any luck, it won’t be his blade that cuts Kakashi down when he takes his final strike against Konoha.
His plans are shaping up nicely. His army is growing, and he is building allies outside of Kumoga borders. It will still be years before his army is ready to take on the Konoha elites, but he will test their strength and determination before he sets his plans to motion. Sai shows promise with his mage abilities; a very useful trait that Danzo can’t wait to exploit. He trains more careful with these Kumoga’s warriors. He can’t risk getting ejected from Kumoga before his plan comes to fruition.
The Raikage knows nothing.
Arc IV
(The Birth of a Phoenix)
The night sky turns red, a mirror of bloodshed, from all the lives that were lost in battle. There is a thick haze, choking out the stars so that no light shines through. It is a cold, unforgiving night. The wind howls with the death mourners and smells of frozen copper.
Danzo counts the warriors that return home and he notices that Sakura is not with them.
Sai is injured. Omoi supports most of his weight as he carries him through the village gates. “What happened to Sakura?” Danzo asks.
Sai’s face is a ruin of blood and tear tracks. He works his jaw, but he cannot say the words that are stuck in the tangled nest of his throat.
“She fell,” Samui answers beside them. “I saw a warrior from the Konoha village stab her in the side. She’s… gone…” Samui’s words are barely a whisper.
Danzo clenches his fists and thinks of what a pity her wasted life was. She never came into her Healing powers and yet Danzo feels her loss like a swift punch in the gut. He tells himself it is because he won’t get the chance to use her against Konoha.
His mind involuntarily conjures images of the babe with big green eyes and he remembers that she never even cried when he took her from her home…
Arc V
(Born from Retribution)
The warriors from Kiri are heedless. Danzo admires their stamina and thirst for blood. They are a savage nation, behind the progression of time, and easily persuaded with gold and marauding. They lack a strong figurehead and Danzo effortlessly slips into the role. They follow him without question and are eager to strike the Black Army.
Danzo does not tell them that most will not return.
The Black Army is strong. They will survive this particular attack.
Danzo tells the Kiri army how to get onto the mountain without being seen. He instructs them to take whatever strikes their pleasure in the raid. “Burn the village to the ground if you must,” Danzo tells them. “You will only have a chance at penetrating the barracks if you draw out the warriors. Our goal is to weaken them.”
“Lord Hersir,” one of his men addresses him. “Our attack will only serve to anger them. They will come looking for us when it’s over.”
Danzo presses his lips into a thin line. This one is smarter than he looks. “We want them to attack Kiri,” Danzo says, enunciating each word with careful articulation. “The rest of the Kiri army will be here waiting for them. My allied forces will join in and the Konoha elites will be severely outnumbered.”
Danzo doesn’t say this aloud, but he is uneasy that he hasn’t received word from the clans surrounding Konoha. He suspects The Spy of the North has intercepted his messenger hawks. No matter. Danzo doesn’t need the alliances of those neutral clans. With half the Kumoga army under his wing, the warriors from Kiri, and allies from Waves, the Black Army won’t stand a chance against him. As long as they march on Kiri, Danzo will take them at the river crossing.
The Black Army will be his for the taking.
Arc VI
The Down-spiral of a Hersir
After the fallout, Danzo leads his newly split forces into the woods as night falls like a cloak behind him. They left so many wounded, but it is of no concern to him now. Those who stayed behind in Kumoga are now his enemies. Danzo made himself perfectly clear: join him, or forever be ostracized. After he takes the Black Army, he will eradicate what’s left of the Kumoga warriors and leave the nation completely defenseless.
Danzo works his hands into fists, grinding his molars.
Sai chose to stay behind.
Years of training flash through Danzo’s mind – all the effort and special attention he paid the boy was all for nothing…
Danzo has never feared the gods, but he wonders now if this is his punishment for taking the child prodigies from their cribs so long ago… Sakura died in battle and Sai, his most notable progeny, had chosen to stay behind with the wretched, poor excuses of Kumoga warriors. Sai wasn’t even Kumoga! Perhaps he should have been honest with the boy about his true lineage, but Danzo could not tell him of his interference… After all, he had needed Sai to trust him.
All for nothing, Danzo repeats over and over, like a poisonous mantra that coils through his mind.
It is of no matter, Danzo tells himself… their losses will be of no consequence; the plans of attack are already placed in motion. The Black Army will be his in a fortnight.
Danzo’s hand trembles as he leads his army through the woods.
Kakashi was standing at the side of his bed, his hand curled tightly around a dagger. He was wearing black pants and nothing more; his hair artfully messy as if she'd woken him from sleep. Sakura leaned against his door, her eyes locking with his across the room.
"What was it that you were going to say to me the morning we set out for Kusa?" Sakura asked. "We were standing by the horses and I asked you if I had done something wrong – do you remember?"
Kakashi nodded.
"You said what would it change to hear me say it," she repeated, "you said I wasn't ready."
Kakashi's grip loosened on the dagger, and slowly, he placed the blade on the dresser. He stood looking at her; his hands flexing at his sides as the light from his fire played over his skin. Sakura stared at every line of his body – at the deep impressions that carved his musculature and felt her body growing desperately warm.
"What were you going to say?" Sakura said, taking one step away from his door.
"I was going to say," Kakashi said, stepping towards her, "that you are mine."
Chapter 18 drops Sunday (March 7th)
You guys have waited long enough. I think you can guess what’s about to happen. ;)
